ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Sam]

When I first assembled my setup (glass starter set with coloured sand) in January, I thought it would be a good idea to use the white sand in the arena so the lasius niger could easily be seen whilst foraging.

Unfortunately this sand seems to be extremely fine (finer than the rest) and if the ants are slightly moist it sticks to them like glue. I have thrown the bags away now so can’t check the label to see if it was actually loam I used by mistake.

Finally my question, are all the coloured sands that come with the starter set pre-mixed with loam or do they send you a separate bag of loam to mix in yourself?

[Azzer]

Some of the starter kits are mixed with loam, and completely dry loam (ie - used as a 'decorative' substrate in the basin) will cover your ants quite easily.

I'd advise you to go to your nearest pet-shop that deals with reptiles/aquariums, and either get some coral-white-sand, or for reptiles you could get a small bag of white "calci-sand", and just carefully spoon it in (table-spoon!) to the basin, being careful to work around the ants there (don't want to frighten the poor buggers with a spoonful of sand! ).

Yeah, I talk with such experience don't I... *ahem* - I made the same mistake with my new colony. I thought I was just buying a 1 KG bag of white sand from AntStore, after noticing lots of my new Myrmica workers turning white (and wondering if they were going ninja disguised as rocks ), I realised it was loam (and double checking my order/online, I had indeed ordered a pre-mixed bag of loam & white sand). So I nipped out to my nearest aquarium, covered the loam/sand with about 1CM of "calci-sand" (quite expensive but the only bags of more ordinary white sand they sold were in huge 25kg bags, which would have been much more expensive even if it was a whole lot cheaper 'per kilo'), and they are fine now, no longer getting covered, and they seem to be able to walk around on it much easier too.

[Sam]

Nice one Azzer, it probably is just loam I've used. I think I might still have a bag of red sand left over from initially purchase, if not I'll get some calci-sand.
The poor little bliters were getting stuck to the cotton wool whilst drinking, just one death so far, so I best resolve it quick.

I'm a Bradford'ian, which petshop did you use, if you don't mind me asking? I might bob out after work if their still open.

[Azzer]

I'm a Bradford'ian, which petshop did you use, if you don't mind me asking? I might bob out after work if their still open.

Depends how well you know Huddersfield! If you come in to Huddersfield from Bradford direction - eg turn off at the Cooper Bridge roundabout (know where I mean?) coming in to Huddersfield... you have the UCI (sorry... Odeon now ) cinemas and the Galpharm Stadium (or McAlpine Stadium as I still like to say) on your left (you don't have to come near the town centre at all) - turn down that road to the cinema... at the mini roundabout where you would turn right in to the cinema, there is an aquarium/reptile pet place on the left practically on the mini roundabout, but like about 5 metres before you reach the roundabout, on your left - it's right there by the roundabout/roadside, with about 10 parking spots in front of it.

You can pick up calci-sand/aquarium sands there, and also get fresh live mealworms, crickets, waxworms or whatever to feed your ants too

[Sam]

I go to the UCI a fair bit (prefer it to showcase) & never noticed that place before, cheers man.

Well got home last night & low and behold there's two more stuck to the cotton wool, one very weak . So gently removed them and placed them in display, shortly after another ant grabbed the weak one by the head and dragged it into the nest, poss gonna eat it.
I then used some of the red sand/loam I had left over from setup & sprinkled it over the white sand. The red sand/loan was also very fine and the same senario prob would have happened so I lightly dampened the surface with water & it seems alot better now (ie not powdery), I shall see how they all get on.

[Sced]

Yep, this white sand somehow killed 4 of my workers cause it just kept sticking to them

[Sam]

It's annoying isn't it. Since lightly dampening the arenas surface there has been no casualties over the weekend so things seems ok, touch wood.
They've been happily carting bits of cricket legs & antenna (bought from reptile shop in Hudders) back to the display now that they have solid ground to walk on.

[Azzer]

They've been happily carting bits of cricket legs & antenna (bought from reptile shop in Hudders) back to the display now that they have solid ground to walk on.

Glad you found it ok! Also, personally, I'd try and cover the loam up with a layer of normal ('bigger' grained, like that calci-sand I mentioned) sand, rather than keep the loam substance moist (as that means you have to keep making it moist all the time, and you may tempt them to build there if it gets moist enough).

I've not tried crickets yet - I've tried superworms (which I am now having a go at breeding as it seems quite easy... though only 11 of them are turning in to beetles so far) which they like, and I am going to try some wax-worms soon (but am going to use one that is in a chrysalis/cacoon - apparently that is much better for the ants/easier)... crickets I was a bit worried about because of that small box they came in - I had horrible images of every time I opened the box to try and get one, a load of them all jumping out and flooding my house! Is it easy to just grab the one from the boxes they come in without all the rest leaping out? And did you get the really small ones, or the big ones?

[darradar]

Azzar yes it is very difficult to just grab one cricket from the boxes they send them in, however, I put mine in to small perspex carriers with ventilated tops and a small flip top doors, the kind for transporting hamsters etc, quite cheap, its much easier and you are able to feed the crickets in there too, thus making a box last much longer, just keep them in a warm place, I have several differnt sized and also lockust, as I also keep tarantula, For the ants I use what they decsribe as the medium sized, though my ants do prefer the wax worms and the moths they change too, they didnt like the chrisalised form at all....

[Sam]

Might have to get some larger grained sand if the red sand doesn’t set hard. I was hoping it would dry out & stay solid, if not I'll pop to Hudders & get some calci-sand.

Like darradar I tip the crickets (medium size) into a larger perspex tank with small opening at top, with cardboard board egg carton, some bran & a slice of vegetable for moister. Last lot still going with little maintance (about a month now), just put fresh veg slice before it goes mouldy.
I bought a pint of maggots (too many really) about 2 months ago which I keep in a travel fridge in the garage, I put about 20 or so in jar and let turn into flies, only takes about week (depending on temp), shame their not that keen on em.
I might try some superworms / wax worms soon; colony needs to grow a bit more to keep up with all the food I'm buying them.

[Sam]

Last night whilst feeding the ladies I noticed that the cocktail stick, shortcut from clear tube to arena floor, had got mold growing on it so I quickly replaced it with a fresh one. I hope moistening the the arena floor isn't going to cause endless problems, ie with food, I will prob replace with larger grain sand as suggested earlier, better safe than sorry.

[JimmyVe]

better safe than sorry.

That is true. That is one of the reasons i'm not putting sand or anything in my new farms. And is it easier to clean this way. (but it dos not looks as nice)

[Sam]

True true.

I notice your a big fan of the Y-Tong style nests Jimmy, I would quite like to try one of these as you can easily and clearly see what the entire colony is upto. Plus it would be alot of fun building one.
Azzer is kindly writting a "how to guide" on Y-Tong which will be quite useful to a newbie like me.

[JimmyVe]

In deed Azzers Guide is perfect. (almost )
That is the reason why i like the y-tong so much, you can always look into the nest if you want, this is not possible in a sand nest. I like seeing how the ants carry of feed the larva and queen and how they live in there.

[Sam]

Yes, now mine have moved into the display I can't see how their all doing queen, eggs, larva or anything, apart from some workers when they are foraging. Nevermind I'm sure they'll have to dig to the edge of the display at some point.